New British car maker debuts at Frankfurt Motor Show

It’s not often that a new car maker joins the motor industry elite, let alone a new British car maker. But, there’s a new British name over one of the stands at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Eterniti (sounds a little like Infiniti the up-market Nissan brand, doesn’t it?) plans to launch next year with the Hemera – a prototype of which will be on the Frankfurt stand. Eterniti say this is the “world’s first Super-SUV”.

Based on the Volkswagen Group’s large SUV platform (as used for the Touareg and the Porsche Cayenne), the company says the looks will be very much as the prototype, but the final version will have different LED headlights. The body panels will all be unique and made from carbon composite and the interior is “almost 100% unique” to Eterniti.

The new company is backed by international investors and based in London where there will be a showroom and workshop where the bespoke models will be hand build “to any specification required”. The company intends to replicate these facilities in other world cities in the future.

The target for the Eterniti Hemera is “wealthy car buyers, particularly in major cities, global wealth centres and emerging markets ranging from London to the Asia-Pacific region”.

The business aims to help satisfy a growing demand for additional luxury and personalised specifications among wealthy car buyers, particularly in major cities, global wealth centres and emerging markets ranging from London to the Asia-Pacific region.

Eterniti claim that they are the first car maker to enter the luxury SUV market, for which Bentley, Maserati and Aston Martin (with their Lagonda brand) are known to be considering new models.

The Eterniti engineering team is led by Alastair Macqueen, who was responsible for the development of the Jaguar XJ220 supercar to production and has won the Le Mans 24-Hour race three times, with both Jaguar and Bentley. Former Formula 1 driver Johnny Herbert will have an active involvement in developing Eterniti vehicles as well as serving as an ambassador for the brand.

Plans for another SUV and a high-performance car which could form the basis of a racing programme are currently being developed.